Winter
by EnigmaticArsenic
Summary: [a fairytale]
1. Author's Note

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **This story prominently features a Sesshomaru and Kikyo pairing. If you have an aversion to this, then please, back out now. **No flames will be tolerated.** If you have nothing to do than rant on these characters or this coupling for a story you _don't _even have to acknowledge, then- I'm sorry to inform you- you are really quite pathetic and therefore have no valid opinion, anyway. Please, for everyone involved, let us save the trouble and the indignities for more worthy causes...

_Thank you._


	2. Foreword

_May you, O Prince of stone and ice,  
__Rule a land as cold as your countenance  
__Beautiful and unfeeling  
__A curse of eternal winter_

_May you suffer the fate of your bestowal  
__As recompense, forever seeking the love of her  
Who has no heart to give  
_


	3. Title Page

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_**Winter  
**__a fairytale_

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	4. Prologue

**prologue**

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**O**NCE upon a time, in the days when knowledge and wisdom were reconciled and intertwined, the earth dwelled wild and harmonious, man with nature and nature with man. But as the years progressed, knowledge waxed and wisdom waned, and the vain spirit innate within all creatures stirred within the heart of man, and his Age began. Little by little he grew conscious of his own greatness in power and in will and forsook the prudence of the primitive for the enlightenment of progress. Dwellings of dead wood sprang where once the living flourished; fields of cultivated crops grew where once it was given freely. Civilizations thrived, and man, of his own might, subjugated the humble dirt.

And as the days advanced into his era, so did the wild things of the world retreat further into the shadows of the mother womb, for magic and mysticism is no match for technology and stubborn logic. The Mother diminished, and with her, the spirits of her youth.

Man continued on, forging his destiny.

Far to the West, upon the last strongholds of the Ancient Spirit within the sentient shadows of the White Mountains, he stretched forth his domain. A settlement was established along the banks of the river, just outside the border of a lush forest. The people were an example of their kind- simple but, by instinct, driven with a need for order and reason. However, they were not the first of their kind to enter the domain of the White Mountains and its surrounding forest, for there civilization had long ago encroached, and there was an antiquated town, small, self-sufficient, and forgotten by the rest of the world. It was this village which they rejuvenated with gifts of modern technology, and this village into which they eventually assimilated until the years erased the last trace of divide between the old and new inhabitants.

The village prospered as well as it could, growing in population and in comforts despite its out-of-the-way location. The people farmed the land and fished the waters and reaped the abundance which spilled forth from the forest- the wild birds and animals that supplemented their meats and provided their leather. But though the forest was swelling with untapped richness, few dared to venture within its shade, for it was a wild forest and housed the remnants of the Unknown things that had once thrived freely in the ancient days.

The people feared these Unknown things that skirted about their establishment, sprites of the wind and water, and as a measure of protection, they elected a wise priestess, knowledgeable of the ancient ways, as intercessor to the spirits of the forest. At her behest, they built a little shrine within the forest, at the base of a towering tree fifteen feet in diameter, and it was here that she lived, a virginal maiden according to her station, and the last of her kind.

The name of the priestess was Midoriko, and in addition to being wise and knowledgeable, she was also very beautiful with ivory skin and midnight hair. Every time she traversed through town for supplies, her appearance caused the men to murmur dishearteningly that such beauty should go unclaimed.

But Midoriko was a proud and headstrong woman who valued her virtues above her beauty, her strength above the sentiments of her sex. She was independent and self-reliant. She needed no man. Rather, what Midoriko wanted in the solitary days of her life, was a child, and though she valued duty above desire, this void inside of her expanded day by lonesome day, aching for satisfaction.

When she traveled into town to replenish her provisions, she watched the mothers with their children and sighed, longing for one of her own. A little hand to hold, to guide, to love. For though Midoriko was a woman of great mind and great spirit, her heart was empty.

Sadly she watched the little children playing in the snow, sculpting animals and people, before returning to her shrine to wait out the long winter in loneliness.

Until, in the dead of the frozen season, the Night granted her wish…


	5. Chapter one

**chapter one**

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The snow had fallen heavily, blanketing the ground with thick white powder. Overhead, however, past the stark, ice-bearded branches of the trees, the sky shone through, clear and black and brilliant with stars. It was near midnight as Midoriko surveyed the scene- the last of her duties done for the day- and knelt in the midst of a deep drift. Her mind went back earlier, to the towns' children building their round, robust snowmen, and almost without conscious thought, her hands began to gather snow, piling it into a small mound equivalent in height to one of the younger girls she knew. Skilled fingers compacted the snow, then sculpted it- first the head, then the body. A girl, a tiny version of herself: long, straight hair, a gentle face, wide eyes. Deviating from the image that had drawn itself up in her mind, Midoriko attempted to carve for the little snow girl a playful, upturned smile, but to no avail. Try after try, the mouth remained a tiny, stubborn line.

At last, Midoriko gave in, smiling to herself. "My little daughter is quite the serious child… More snow for the arms." With the maternal tenderness of a mother, she shaped the girl's limbs, perfecting each little finger until she'd put more effort into her making than she'd first thought to. It was late into the night when she at last finished and drew back, still kneeling, to admire her creation bathed in the light of the full moon.

Midoriko frowned. The snow girl's chest looked a bit sickly, too thin for her liking. Gathering another handful of snow, she returned her undertaking, packing it in tightly so that the statue might last til' morning, but as she worked, a sharp object hidden in the powder caught her hand and pricked her finger. Wincing, Midoriko retracted her hand, and sure enough drops of dark red blood had began to pool at the tip of her index finger. A tiny crystal, about half the size of her pinky, protruded from the snow, radiating a cold pink hue.

The priestess plucked it out. She had never seen anything quite like it before- it could have been quite valuable, she thought, but then, looking up at the sky and at her humble surroundings, she smiled once again to herself. What need had she for such riches?

Smoothing the little snow girl's chest, she reinserted the jewel right where the heart would've been.

"You're the only jewel I need," she murmured, smearing the outline of the figure's mouth with her reddened finger. "A girl as white as the winter, as black as the night, and with lips as red as the rose. The most beautiful little daughter…" She sat back and sighed, melancholy swelling in her heart for she knew it could never be. As a priestess, purity was her power, and to give in to the desires of the flesh meant giving up the strength of her spirit.

It was not a sacrifice she could make.

Daily now she'd sensed it, the murmurings of the land. To the East, to the North, and to the South, powerful lords had arisen, conquering their fellow man to become master and king of vast dominions that were constantly growing, like a hungry animal devouring all that it may- not only annexing human territories, but demolishing the mountains, forests, and wild plains where the last of the Ancients took refuge.

The West was restless. More than once now, these kings had sought to make headway into the last of the four territories, and more than ever, the spirits that dwelt there were becoming more and more wary, fearful, and hateful of human presence. Distinctions between the harmless colonies- like that of Midoriko's protectorate village- and those of the warmongering armies were fastly becoming dimmed and nonexistent. The land- so congested as it was with the spirits who had fled from the East, the North, the South in the face of human expansion- was eager to be rid of them all.

Now more than ever, her powers as intercessor and protector were needed, not only on behalf of the humans but also of the spirits that dwelled in her forest. The hate was hardly one sided, for that plague known as fear had spread throughout the heart of man as well, and they sought to be rid of these Unknown things just as greatly as these Unknowns sought to be rid of them. The balance of life had shifted and it demanded the eradication of one or the other.

Already Midoriko walked a fine line, feared and mistrusted by both sides. As a human with such a large reserve of spiritual energy, she was more of a threat to the Ancient Unknowns than any general, lord, or king. But, as someone whose power was drawn from the same ancient source as the spirits, the humans she endeavored to protect were more than suspicious she could just as easily side with the Unknowns in order to defend it.

Ruminating the situation with the clairvoyance of an oracle, Midoriko saw no victor, only swathes of death and destruction where once forests and civilizations thrived.

But on this night, lit by a full moon, a million stars, and the snow itself, she pushed all those thoughts from her head and allowed herself, instead, a moment of secret pleasure with her little snow child.

"Even if the whole mad world were to crumble tomorrow," she spoke, " I would gladly live every heartache that comes one hundred times over if I could have you to protect." Absently, she reached within her thick robes for a handkerchief to wipe the blood remaining on her fingers, withdrew the cloth, and with it, a dark purple flower, pressed amongst its folds.

Midoriko glanced at it in surprise, having forgotten its existence. It had been the last bloom of the previous autumn and she had kept it as a reminder that spring would one day return again.

Picking up the fallen blossom, Midoriko dusted the bit of snow that clung to its faded petals, and, lovingly, tucked it behind the little snow girl's ear.

"My Kikyo," she smiled. Then, cleaning up her pin-prick wound, she rose to her feet, took one last, longing glance at her handiwork, and retreated back into the warmth of the shrine.


	6. Chapter two

**chapter two**

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"Are you leaving, Mother?" Standing by the singular, drawn window if the shrine's living quarters, Kikyo watched as with intrinsic grace, Midoriko pulled on the worn fur cloak over her shoulders. It was snowing again.

"Yes."

"How long will you be gone today?"

"I am not sure," she answered honestly, pulling on her felt boots. "I have so many patients to check with…"

In addition to her role as shrine keeper and maker of charms to ward away the spirits from the village, Midoriko, when needed, also tripled as the town physician and healer- a task that kept her quite occupied in the winter attending to colds, flu cases, and other ailments so common to the season. This year, however, she had looked forward to an easier winter since the village had acquired its own doctor- a man by the name of Suikotsu who that previous spring had accidentally stumbled upon the town, thought it nice, and decided to stay and set up practice. But earlier that month, just before the first snowfall, he had been called away by an ailing relative, and no one quite knew when he would return, leaving Midoriko to once again tend to the sick on her own.

In previous years, it had never bothered her- this reliance of the village on her- but today she was more reluctant to go, uneasy about leaving Kikyo on her own at the shrine. Something did not feel right about the forest, and she could not put her finger on it…

"I will return as soon as I am able. Meanwhile," she instructed, "remember to stay within the grounds of the shrine. Should trouble come, hurry inside and wait for me."

Despite her mother's concern, however, Kikyo was not fazed in the least. Accompanying her to the door and relinquishing the basket of medicinal herbs they'd prepared earlier, Kikyo waved goodbye, watched, and waited until Midoriko disappeared past a curtain of falling snow and thin gray trees. For a while, she continued to stand on the steps of the shrine, enjoying the cold of the wind that stung her cheeks and the feathery kisses of the snowflakes that gathered in her hair, her lashes. It was only when a nearby branch cracked- whether from its burden of snow or by some other cause- and crashed, that she retreated back into the safety of the shrine. Then, gathering her sleeping furs in the corner furthest from the fire pit, she curled into a ball and promptly fell asleep.

A strange scratching noise awoke her two hours later. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Kikyo listened attentively to the odd sounds just beyond the walls of the shrine- low, little hisses that were something between a shout and a growl. At first, she stayed very still, waiting for whatever it was to go away, but then… curiosity overcame her.

Quietly she tiptoed to the window, raised one corner of the curtain, and peeked outside. A flash of red bounded beneath her and rounded the front of the house. Kikyo moved to the door. Without fear, she stepped outside and found the strangest looking creature she'd ever seen.

It was a boy about her age, with long unruly hair the color of moonlight, short claws on his hands and bare feet, and ears on top of his head like that of a dog's.

Now, although aside from her mother, Kikyo did not know any other humans formally, she did know of their existence, of their appearance having more than once crept to the edges of the forest to peek upon the village to where Midoriko often disappeared into. She had seen other adults, other little boys and little girls, but nothing quite like this… And for a moment, she was too surprised by her discovery to do much else but gape at the red-clad creature crouched low by the shrine, busily sniffing away at its foundations, ears twitching like mad before all of a sudden, he realized he wasn't alone. They boy turned and eyed her suspiciously, and they stared at one another for- what seemed to Kikyo- a very long time.

But then, righting himself on his hind legs (and standing not much taller than herself), the boy folded his arms into the wide sleeves of his robes and demanded imperiously, "_Who _are _you_?"

Kikyo blinked. "Who are _you_?" she ordered in return.

"I asked you first," the boy responded.

"This is my shrine," she pointed out. She pressed her lips together into a tight line as he puffed out his cheeks, and the two fell back into sizing one another up. Before either could make a decision about the other, however, a furry white ball suddenly bolted from beneath the shrine and bounded away above the snow drifts.

"Ah ha!" Dropping his commanding expression for one of excitement, the boy leapt after the rabbit… landed in a deep drift, and sank from view.

Kikyo hurried over to the boy-sized hole. "Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling by the flat body at the bottom. The boy popped back up, fresh as a daisy, ears twitching.

"Where'd it go, where'd it go?!"

Kikyo pointed at the line of trees into which the rabbit had plunged.

"Well don't just stand there!" the boy urged. "Come help me catch it!" He pounced after it, and without realizing what she was doing, Kikyo ran after him. Doggedly, she followed him through the dead undergrowth, stopping occasionally as he stopped hunched low to the ground, sniffed at the air, the trees, and studied for tracks. Then he would dart off again, excited as ever.

Pretty soon, Kikyo was out of breath and the boy had to slow to wait for her.

"Come on, come on," he prodded impatiently. "It's gonna get away!"

"Why…" she asked, trying to catch a second wind, "are you trying to catch it in the first place?"

"Well, _duh_. To eat it, of course."

Kikyo's face scrunched in amazement and disgust. "You're going to _eat _it?!"

"Yeah, o' course," the boy replied nonchalantly. "Gotta eat somethin'."

"Why don't you eat snow?" she suggested, and the boy returned her look.

"You can't eat snow!"

"Why not?" She did it all the time.

"Because you just can- Hey, there it is!!" Spotting the rabbit dive for his hole, the boy lunged for it, thrusting his arm into the warren's entrance and screwing his face with exertion. But it was no use. His prey had eluded him.

"Ah, shoot." Giving up, he kicked at the snow, marched to a protruding rock, and fell into a glum heap, hunched over, chin on hands, and cheeks puffed out. Once again, he studied her up and down, and asked, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Kikyo. What's yours?"

"Inuyasha."

Kikyo barely caught the answer, mesmerized by his ears. Entranced, she moved forward, held out her hands, and seized them.

"Hey! What're you-" Inuyasha stopped as her tiny fingers moved in slow, methodical circles, massaging the sensitive nerves. Regaining his composure, however, Inuyasha pushed her away and ducked out of reach, hands wrapped protectively about his ears. "Hey, you can't do that!"

"But, I just want…" Still mesmerized, she commenced chasing him around the little clearing, trying to get at his ears as he desperately tried to protect them.

"Hey, stop! Stop!"

Summoning an extra burst of speed, Kikyo caught up to him and grabbed for his shirt, causing them both to trip and fall onto the snow. They were laughing and giggling, pouncing on one another, when a third voice suddenly joined them, a low, bubbling chuckle that echoed throughout the forest.

Both whipped around to find a woman standing at the edge of the clearing, very pale and with long dark hair elaborately tied with silk ribbons the same as her white kimono that blended into the snow and her bared white shoulders. She regarded them through coal black eyes and smiled.

A shiver of dread filled the children, and they quickly rose to their feet, unable to move away.

"My, my," the woman spoke in a tone that was like the dead winter wind. "What have we here? A little half-breed and…" Her gaze trained on Kikyo, grew wide with a surprise that transferred to pleasantness on her lips. "Something quite special…" With amazing speed, she flew to where they stood and snatched the girl's arm, squeezing it tightly within her manicured hands. Her smile grew malicious as she examined her closer. "…Aren't we?"

"Hey, you!" Inuyasha spurred into action. "Leave 'er alone!" Using a clawed hand, he slashed at the woman's arm and she quickly reeled it back, black blood staining the white silk of her kimono.

"Why, you little…" Her eyes narrowed dangerously and turned to the boy. "Little half-breed, know your place!" And slapping the air, she sent a gust of wind knocking him over.

"Inuyasha!" Kikyo ran to his side and helped him to his feet. She remembered her mother's words. "To the shrine," she told him. "We have to get back to the shrine." Gripping his hand, she pulled him forward to the way she thought they'd come, and they stumbled along crooked tree roots and protruding rock, desperate to find the way back. But no matter how far they ran, the scenery never changed. All the trees had become uniform, all the rocks the same sized and spaced the same distance, the frozen undergrowth exactly the same here as it was there. The children stopped, very much scared and confused.

"My… are we lost, little ones?" The woman's mocking laughter came at them from all sides, and she materialized, her arm and kimono- just a minute ago bleeding and tattered- now unscratched. "I will savor you when I dine." Paralysis gripped at the children's bones and they couldn't move as she approached, hovering above the snow and making no tracks, eyes darting from one to the other as if deliberated which she should eat first. "You." Deciding on Inuyasha, she flung back her arm and whipped it around, sprouting a long, octopus like tentacle that wrapped tightly about the boy's body. Her kimono opened up to reveal a long, hungry mouth full of sharp teeth, running from the top of her chest all the way to the bottom of her abdomen. It opened wide to consume Inuyasha but snapped instead, empty air.

The tentacle squeezing him dissipated, and he landed on the soft ground. With a loud _thock_the arrow buried itself onto a tree. The woman screamed in furious pain, her lacerated arm fanning the air with black blood.

"_You!_" she screeched, whirling to face Midoriko's bow. "Stay out of this!"

Calmly, Midoriko nocked another arrow. "Witch, I will warn you only once. Return to your mountain!"

"Humans," the woman spat. "How dare you. Learn your place!" She launched herself at Midoriko.

The priestess's foresight, however, was faster, and aiming at empty air, she lodged a spellbound arrow into the witch's shoulder. Shrieking, the witch staggered back, a hand to her wound. Another arrow penetrated the left of her abdomen.

"You… you… you!" Hatred twisted her face, and she could only manage to utter the singular word.

Midoriko notched another arrow.

"I will destroy you for this," the woman declared. A strange vibration ruffled the long robes of her garments as the ravens imprinted all about the hem came to life. They swirled about their mistress like a black whirlwind. The arrow flew, but she was gone, lifted past the lacy canopy into the sky.

Midoriko flung her bow to the ground. "Kikyo, Kikyo!" she cried, scanning the surrounding area for her daughter. She found her crawling out from beneath an evergreen shrub, and immediately dropped to her knees.

"Mother!" The girl rushed forward.

"Didn't I warn you to stay at the shrine?" She reprimanded, smothering the girl in an embrace, then sighing, "Oh thank merciful heaven. I thought I'd lost you…"

As mother and daughter were reconciling, Inuyasha timidly came forward. When she spotted him, Midoriko's embrace tightened around Kikyo.

"You…" Her brown eyes were wide, filled with more fear as she stared at the boy than they had when staring down the witch. Harshly, she demanded, "What were you doing with my daughter?"

"I- I wasn't doin' nothin'," he stammered.

Kikyo tugged at her sleeve. "Don't be angry, Mother. Inuyasha saved me." But the cold disdain did not leave Midoriko's face.

Rising to her feet, she tugged Kikyo away. "Come along, Kikyo. We must return to the shrine. You, boy," she added to Inuyasha. "Go home. Never come near my daughter again, do you understand?"

"Inuyasha…" Kikyo glanced back, struggling to keep pace with her mother and yet not wanting to abandon her new friend.

Midoriko hurried her along.

Behind them, Inuyasha stood back and did not try to argue.

When they were within sight of the shrine, Midoriko suddenly stopped and knelt to eye-level with the girl. "Never speak to that boy again, do you understand?"

"But, Mother…"

"Listen to me, Kikyo," she spoke. "Do not go near that boy again. He is tainted by the blood of demons. He is not to be trusted. Stay away from him, do you understand?"

"But, Mother…" Kikyo could feel the tears stinging at her eyes.

"No, don't cry, don't cry," Midoriko hurriedly commanded, stopping her tears. "You mustn't ever cry, do you understand? Promise me, Kikyo."

Numbly, Kikyo swallowed back her tears and nodded. "I promise," she agreed, unsure which promise exactly Midoriko was extracting.


End file.
